CIT Ministry actively courting bids from international mobile operators? The Communications and IT ministry has held talks with Kuwait’s Zain and another regional operator about potentially entering the Egyptian market, Al Borsa reports this morning, citing anonymous sources. The deadline for the three existing mobile network operators (MNOs) to apply for 4G licenses is the first week of August, and NTRA has said it would seek international bids if all three did not bid.

Meanwhile: NTRA committee to talk with operators on 4G license terms, TE’s entry into mobile market? The Communications and IT Ministry has struck a special committee to hash-out with Telecom Egypt and the three existing MNOs issues attendant to the launch of 4G data services and TE’s entry as the nation’s fourth operator. The committee will be headed by National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) head Mostafa Abdel Wahed, Amwal Al Ghad reports this morning, citing unnamed sources. The committee will bring operators to the table to discuss demands Telecom Egypt divest its 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt when the former enters the mobile market and operators’ objections to paying 50% of licensing fees in USD, among other issues. Operators objected last week to the NTRA having been “appointed” by TE as the fixed-line monopoly’s go-between in commercial talks on infrastructure sharing.